Said former NATO commander General Philip Breedlove about European Union efforts to build military power:
If a European Army was to begin to start to try to replicate all of the NATO stuff and spend that money that way, it’s money lost that should have been invested in overall capabilities and readiness.
Cue the
More than 20 EU states are set to sign up for a landmark joint defence pact on Monday as Europe seeks closer military ties in the wake of Brexit and as Russia flexes its muscles to the east.
The permanent structured cooperation on defence -- or PESCO -- aims to deepen defence cooperation between European Union members and improve coordination in the development of new military technology.
Yeah, it's a darn shame Europe doesn't have access to an existing military alliance with a proven record of defeating a foreign conventional threat from the east. Darn the luck about having to invent such a thing from scratch.
Do you really think the EU--which doesn't include America, of course--would choose to build military power in a way that doesn't harm NATO--the defense institution that does include America which dominates the body because of America's military contributions--if it can?
So of course spending on the EU military will come at the expense of NATO rather than being an addition to NATO spending and capabilities.
And of course Russia would prefer to see the EU gain power over the NATO alliance that defeated the USSR in the Cold War.
The European Union is not our friend. And supporting "ever closer union" (as the EU puts it) of that body abandons a century of fighting to prevent a potentially hostile single power from gaining control of the tremendous military, economic, technology, and demographic potential of the continent.
UPDATE: European military power without American help is limited:
French troops’ dependence on U.S. forces in the African theater “is not healthy” and will undermine the European country’s pursuit to act autonomously there, according to the author of France’s Strategic Review of Defence and National Security.
And the EU advocates use this fact not to support NATO where America can provide this help but to support a separate EU military that won't have easy access to American help.
